US-European Ties Emerge from Era of the Big Chill

Article excerpt

What a difference some time makes.

Openly divided over how to halt the ethnic mayhem in former
Yugoslavia, at odds over a slew of trade issues, and uncertain
about the future of NATO, the United States and Europe were sullen
allies for much of President Clinton's first term.

But when senior European Union (EU) leaders came to Washington
this week for a get-acquainted session with Madeleine Albright, Mr.
Clinton's new secretary of state, both sides could take
satisfaction in what many agree has been a marked upturn in the
world's most powerful economic and defense partnership.
"There have been improvements," said Foreign Minister Hans Van
Mierlo of Holland, the current president of the 15-nation EU, after
he and European Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan met Ms. Albright on
Tuesday. "We are trying to be more co-productive then we were
before."
Simon Serfaty, an authority on US-European relations at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington,
attributes the upturn to the success in US-led Balkan peace
efforts, agreements on enlarging and reforming NATO, and expanded
cooperation in trade and other areas.
Furthermore, he says, the US has changed its attitude towards
the EU. It now treats relations with the economic bloc with an
importance distinct from that it gives individual members.
"Washington has acknowledged for the EU an identity that
transcends that of its member states," says Dr. Sefarty. "That
{identity} acknowledges the totality of the relations, not just
trade."
This doesn't mean all is rosy. There are deep disagreements over
policies toward Cuba, Iran, and Libya. There are lingering trade
tiffs and growing EU pique at US heavy-handedness, most recently
its veto of a second term for UN Secretary General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali. Details of NATO expansion and reform have yet to be
settled, while frictions persist between the US and individual EU
states, notably France.
But overall, the sniping and backbiting that had marred
relations are gone. Instead, the US and EU have been working on a
broad range of initiatives to promote democracy and international
stability, boost cooperation on environmental protection, and aid
health and education. They are also working to combat terrorism,
drug trafficking, and organized crime.
In addition, the sides are pressing efforts to eliminate trade
barriers and expand economic flows that already total $1.8 trillion.
These include concluding an accord to lift import tariffs on
information technologies and market-opening agreements that will
allow consumer goods approved by government regulators on one side
of the Atlantic to be marketed without further scrutiny on the
other. …